I just got my online copy of this week’s New York Times Book Review and–thank you, life!– Armistead Maupin has given a gift to everyone who ever loved the residents of 28 Barbary Lane.
For the uninitiated, Maupin wrote a series of novels–”Tales of the City,” “More Tales of the City, “ “Further Tales of the City,”etc. in which a very diverse group of San Francisco residents lived under the unstated motto of “Can’t we all just get along.” I loved those people–Michael Tolliver, Anna Madrigal of the anagram name, and the often naive Mary Ann Singleton who innocently rented a room in the boarding house and, well, you have to find out for yourself. Reading those books felt like having an endearing, but slightly out of control group of houseguests descend for an intense, brief time. A little crazy, but after they left, you worried about them, missed them, wanted them to come back.
PBS made a film of the first book that starred Laura Linney as Mary Ann and Olympia Dukakis as Anna, so you can just imagine the deliciousness. And now–oh joy!–a new book. Mary Ann in Autumn. Oh, autumn. Well, ok, I got older, too. I can handle this. I’m ready for whatever Maupin brings my way. In fact, I can’t wait.